Alec Baldwin's Quitting Hollywood (for Real This Time)

At least he will be, just as soon as he finishes cohosting next year's Oscars, stops serving as a prime-time magnet for the Golden Globes and Emmys and otherwise decides that he's tired of being one of the best things to happen to the small screen in years.

Then it's over.

The 51-year-old made the somewhat familiar claim to Men's Journal this month that he'll be more than ready to retire from thespianism when his contract with 30 Rock expires in 2012.

"I don't have any interest in acting anymore," he said. "Movies are part of my past. It's been 30 years. I'm not young, but I have time to do something else." Whether that something else has anything to do with politics, time will tell. Though his would-be smear campaign already appears to have started—against himself.

"It's a difficult thing to say, but I believe it: I consider my entire movie career a complete failure," he said. "I'll tell you why. The goal of moviemaking is to star in a film where your performance drives the film, and the film is either a soaring critical or commercial success, and I never had that."